The Worst 5 IPOs of 2012

One new offering was off by a grueling 81% this year

2. CafePress

YTD Return: -72% Date of IPO: 03/28/12

CafePress (NASDAQ:PRSS) operates a website that allows users to design their own products, like mugs, caps and even iPhone covers. It’s a cool service, and the company shipped 7.8 million items in 2011.

The problem? Well, CafePress was betting on substantial demand for presidential election items. But as seen in its fiscal Q2, there was not much interest in Romney and Obama mugs. The company’s outlook for Q3 was for revenues of $42.5 million to $45 million. The Street, on the other hand, was forecasting $50 million. On the news, the stock price plunged over 40%.

Based in Silicon Valley, Tom Taulli is in the heart of IPO land. On a regular basis, he talks with many of the top tech CEOs and founders trying to find the next hot deals and finding out which start-ups are stinkers.

A long-time follower of the IPO scene, back in 1999 Tom started one of the first sites in the space called WebIPO. It was a place where investors got research as well as access to deals for the dot-com boom. Tom also wrote the top-selling book, Investing in IPOs. In it, he covers all the aspects of analyzing an IPO, such as reading the prospectus, detecting the risk factors and understanding some of the arcane regulations. But don’t worry — if that process is too intimidating for you, thankfully Tom will do the legwork for you right here in the IPO Playbook blog.

Tom is routinely quoted in the media about upcoming deals with his interviews on CNBC and Bloomberg TV, but he is eager to take your questions too. You can message him on Twitter at @ttaulli. And feel free to weigh in via the comments section on any of his IPO Playbook posts.